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It really depends on how many species you're planning to keep. In a 67g I would limit myself to three species, so I would look to having 6 of each. For example; 6 Yellow Labs, 6 Aceis, 6 Red Zebras, or 6 Rusties. You also need to get your male to female ratio as close to spot on as possible. 1 male to 3 females. 1:3, 2:6 and so on. If you're putting 6 of a species in, then it will be 1 male to 5 females. Also, if you're going to stock the other species that I've mentioned, I would stock the Rusties first, then the Aceis, then the Labs or Red Zebras.

The other way you can stock, is to understock first. Go with 4 of a species, then the next, then the next. This way you will have room to add to one or more of those species, which might be getting picked on by one of the other species. For example; You have 4 Aceis, 4 Labs, and 4 Rusties. The Labs turn out to be bullies (which can happen). What you can do to try and limit the bullying, or rather spread it out so that one or two fish aren't copping all of the treatment, is to add to the species that is getting bullied. So you then add 2 - 4 more Rusties and/or Acies. This is a good way of doing it, if your LFS isn't too keen on taking fish back.

Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn. ~Chuck Clark

For your first mbuna species, Labs, Rusties, Aceis and Red Zebras are some of the most placid cichlids of them all. The Rusties and Aceis are the most placid out of the four. So I would go with the Rusties and/or Aceis first, and let them have a chance to have as much control of the tank as possible. Basically you'll be trying to get the less aggressive species become the boss. The other, more aggressive species will then be "the new guys", and they'll be at the bottom of the pecking order. Hopefully it will stay that way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It can depend on what kind of attitude the new arrivals have.

One thing that is very important when you keep these guys, is to offer them plenty of caves and hiding places. You need to do your best to break the line of sight up, and create different areas. What I mean by that, is often when an aggressive fish starts to pick on another fish, it can be relentless until such time as the other fish can get right away from the aggressors area, and it can't be seen anymore. If it can't be seen anymore, then the aggressive one has nothing to be cranky about, until they cross paths again.

Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn. ~Chuck Clark

I jumped into this whole mbuna thing head first and landed on my nose. I stocked my 55g with 5 species(socolofi, maingano, auratus[what was i thinking??] zebra and lab), 4 of each. And boy was i slapped in the face. I lost many fish, throwing my ratios way off and costing me more money than i could afford. I recommend you follow escamosas advice, 3 species and 1 male of each to 3-5 females. The understocking first is a good bit of advice. It's really not as hard as it sounds, just take your time and be easy on yourself.

I have a different system for stocking my Mbuna tanks. It's not something I have ever seen recommended but it has always worked for me. I basically don't keep more then 1 individual of each species. This can be difficult for larger tanks but it has worked well for my smaller stocks of 10-15 fish. Sometimes I will end up with 1-2 outcasts as the fish mature, although its rare. When that does happen ill trade them into the store.

You don't have as much trouble with breeding or the m/f ratio this way and at least to me it makes for a prettier show tank.

Last edited by FinalJenemba; 09-10-2012 at 04:50 AM.

"At some point you aren't making the animal more dead...You are just making a bigger mess." - Demjor19

Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn. ~Chuck Clark

With the Rusties, I would say that you could get away with 2 males and 6 females. I would never really recommend anyone having multiple males in tanks on the smallish side for mbunas, but with Rusties, I'm pretty comfortable with the idea. They're smaller than the others, and they're very relaxed for Africans, but you will have to expect a little bit of aggression within the group of Rusties, if you go with 2 males. The aggression shouldn't spread towards the other species that you choose. If you go that way, just keep in mind, that you really don't want to have any more than 18 fish in the tank. So you will be left with 1 male and 4 females of the Labs and lets say the Aceis. Which is totally fine though.

Oh, I forgot the sexing part! Haha, Sorry. Yep, the males have a longer anal fin, and quite often have more egg spots. They'll be bigger as well. The colour of the two sexes is almost identical.

Last edited by escamosa; 09-10-2012 at 08:21 AM.

Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn. ~Chuck Clark